New
York -- With the economy and the stock market in a constant state of
flux, marketers may become wary of deviating from the standard
advertising methods. But David Porter, Microsoft's video advertising
evangelist, says that now is the time to push these advanced methods.

Porter
explained that the latest Nielsen data shows that TV viewership still
continues to grow (Nielsen reported that the average person spends four
hours a day in front of a television). "That's a real testament to
America's love affair with TV," said Porter. "As long as the viewer is
there, TV is a fantastic business." Porter also said that TV spending is
up -- albeit slightly -- with cable leading the way, up 12%.

One
of the things Porter explained that Microsoft does is crowd-source from
more than the standard demographics, instead targeting viewers based on
lifestyle, behavior, and purchase-based activity. Porter argues that
this method helps them find "pockets of viewers in unsuspecting places,"
thus the commercials are seen by a higher viewing percentage of the
target audience. "Targeting does not have be addressable, it can be more
precise than mass media," said Porter.

MSOs
have taken flak for still using what many consider is an out-dated
advertising method. "We need to stop picking on the cable operators,"
said Porter. "They have a lot of different priorities that are fighting
for their attention."

Porter,
who exited the cable industry in June when he left Cox for Microsoft,
said that with the amount that cable operators have on their plate
(subscriber base, carriage agreements), they need to partner with
different participants in order to move forward. "They don't have to
have a ‘build-it-ourselves' mentality," said Porter.

Porter
argued that there will always be the primetime, mass-appeal content on
TV, but what goes overlooked is the leftovers. "We'll always have the
premium, primetime content," said Porter. "But then there's all the rest
of the content on TV."

"You have to decide," said Porter. "Are you looking for scale, or are you looking for one-to-one?"